General image forming apparatuses, which have become popularized now, are equipped with a function which makes it possible to resume an interrupted job appropriately after restoration, although it is a case where events for interruption arise during execution of a job.
Various cases can be considered to events for interruption.
For example, there may be a case where a job is interrupted due to the empty of paper and/or paper jam (jam), and the other case where a user turns off power to continue the job, which the user intends to executing on the next day, at the time of the end of operation of the day. In the case where such events for interruption arise, the following technology is disclosed as an image forming apparatus, which can resume an uncompleted job appropriately.
According to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-22099 discloses an image forming apparatus, which allows nonvolatile memory, such as a hard disk to memorize job management information at the time of the end of each job, or predetermined time lapse. Job management information here is information, which controls a storage area of image data memorized on the nonvolatile memory for every job.
In the case that it is an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-22099, although a case arises that it may be interrupted during execution of a job and the power may be turned off, job management information can be read from the nonvolatile memory after restoration.
Therefore, based on read job management information, an uncompleted job can be executed appropriately.
According to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-318432, technology for allowing a movable terminal to obtain interruption information at the time of job interruption, memorize it and transmit this to other image forming apparatus in order to execute the uncompleted job with the other image forming apparatus. Interruption information here is formed by information including setting of the density of image formation and information pertaining to the finishing number of pages on which image has been formed.
According to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-318432, although it takes time from when the job was interrupted to the time when the job is restored, an uncompleted job can be quickly processed with other image forming apparatus.
However, according to the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-22099 and 2004-318432, in the case where setting information for synthesizing the time stamp data, which indicates the present date or time (henceforth “time and day”), is shown in the image data of the interrupted job, a problem arises. For example, it is a case where after a job is interrupted, the job is restored or resumed on the following day.
In the above-mentioned case, in one job, time stamp data in which the dates differ before and after the interruption, will be synthesized into image data, and image formation of this synthesized synthetic image data will be performed. Although it is a case where the job is restored on the same day, time stamp data having different times will be synthesized into the image data.
A user usually expects synthesizing the same time stamp data to the image data of one job. In the case where the time stamp data synthesized when a job restarts after restoration differs from the one before interruption, in order to synthesize the same time stamp data, the job before the interruption must be executed after the job restoration.
Even though, after the restoration, the resumption of the job, which is not completed, is possible, an improvement of printing efficiency cannot be promoted and cannot prevent occurrence of printing sheet loss either.
An object of the present invention is to provide image data of one job with image forming apparatus, which is capable of providing the same forming time stamp data for image data of one job.